


Elsa's Gift

by Hansotsi (Karmula)



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Meeting the Family, Minor Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2020-12-14 06:37:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21011390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karmula/pseuds/Hansotsi
Summary: Kristoff and Elsa bond over their shared love of ice - and Anna.





	Elsa's Gift

**Author's Note:**

> For my first friend in the Frozen fandom, Noy, obsessedwithfrozen42. Originally written in 2014, edited and reuploaded in 2019.

Elsa brushed a speck of dust from her shimmering ice skirt, delicately picking up one of the fragile seashell teacups on the tray between them and sipping from it daintily.

“So…” she began in another fruitless stab at making conversation, setting the cup on its saucer and balancing it on her lap. The awkward tension in the air was so thick as to be tangible, and Elsa was at a loss. Thirteen years of isolation had definitely not done her social skills any good, but the fact that Kristoff was just as socially inept wasn’t helping, either.

“Yeah.”

Kristoff sighed, clasping his hands awkwardly in his lap and twiddling his thumbs. When Anna had asked him to meet her sister properly (Begged would be a more accurate term; “Please, Kristoff! After all, we’re going to be a _family _now!” she had whined, her eyes wide, her bottom lip pushed out in a pout. How could he say no to that face?), this is not what he had thought it would entail.

For one, he had thought Anna would actually be present. In fact, he had thought that up until he reached the door of the parlour, where Anna had informed him that he and the Queen would be taking tea inside before turning around too quickly and making to leave.

“Woah, woah, woah, Anna – where are you going?” he had asked frantically, grasping her by the shoulder and spinning her back around to face him.

“Uh… Away? So you can meet my sister?” Anna tried, wriggling out of his grip.

“You know that’s not what I – I thought – won’t you be there, too?”

Anna had shaken her head, a tiny grin creeping onto her lips. When Kristoff had frowned and continued to stare at her imploringly with those wide, melting caramel eyes, she had sighed, shifting his hand from her shoulder and taking it in both of hers.

“If I’m there, I’ll be the only one talking,” she’d explained apologetically, rubbing soothing circles into his palm with her thumbs. “I know you, and I know Elsa, and, well, you know me. I want you two to get to know each other properly. That won’t happen if I’m there.”

She was right. They both knew it. He himself was a recluse – he had been all his life, mostly by choice, and with only Sven to keep him company – and from what he’d heard about the Anna’s sister, well, she was the same. Only – not by choice. He could just imagine the silence awaiting him in the parlour beyond, the tension, all that space begging to be filled and with nothing to say, and the thought of dealing with that without Anna…

Well, it wasn’t a pleasant one. Heaving another sigh, he had reached up and tucked a loose copper curl behind the Anna’s ear. The princess had bitten her lip, smiling shyly.

“Will this make you happy?” he had asked gruffly, his hand hovering millimetres away from the surface of her cheek, positioned as if to cup it.

She had nodded vigorously, the curl he had just tucked neatly away flying loose again and bouncing up and down. “Very. So, will you do it?” she had pouted, gazing up at him with those wide blue doe-eyes and batting her eyelashes. “Pleeeeaaaaase? Please-please-please-please-_pleeeeeease_?”

“Ugh - fine!” he had exclaimed, exasperated. She’d squealed, rising up on her toes to press a quick, affectionate kiss to his cheek – which was quickly becoming flushed – before darting back again, grinning. 

“Great! So just – go in, and I’ll be around, okay? See you!”

“Wait, but, Anna–”

He had wanted to ask her in just how long she’d ‘be around’, but she was already gone, skipping around the corner and giggling.

He had shaken his head. As much as he loved Anna… she could definitely be handful. Not that he minded.

Most of the time.

And now he was here, sitting in this wide, grand parlour in this awkward, stiff-backed chair with the Queen of Arendelle beside him, a small tray bearing a fragile tea set and a plate of cookies balanced on the smooth, polished wooden table between them.

The cookies looked good – iced gingerbread – and smelled even better, sweet and spicy all at once. For a moment he considered taking one, before deciding against it, wriggling slightly in a futile attempt to make himself comfortable.

Instead, Kristoff watched the Queen take another sip from her tea, pondering how best to approach the situation. He wanted to leave a good impression – a great impression, really, considering the… relationship he had developed with her younger sister. The princess. The princess of Arendelle.

Anna.

And then he began thinking about the circumstances that had actually led to his relationship with Anna… Images of ice as smooth as silk, thick and glassy and flawless, rose to the forefront of his mind; icicles as sharp as knives, tall glaciers, and a glittering, glistening fairy-tale palace, all jagged forms and spindly edges, made completely from ice… And he couldn’t help himself.

“How do you do it?” he blurted, regretting his rude words the moment they slipped from his lips.

“I beg your pardon?” In her surprise she nearly dropped the teacup, setting it instead carefully back on its tray and regarding Kristoff cautiously.

“I – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean – I just –” Kristoff broke off, clearing his throat. Taking another deep breath, he began again. “I’m sorry, your Majesty,” he apologized, taking great care not to meet her eyes, instead fixing his gaze on his own restless hands. “I only meant… well…”

“Yes?” she prompted gently, her voice kind, soft, if still a little startled.

“The magic,” he whispered, chancing a glance up at her face, his heart thumping in his chest. As he spoke, her eyes misted over, growing wide with a kind of manic panic before they cleared, and she shook her head slightly, as if repressing a memory.

Gaining a sudden confidence, light dancing in her eyes, a slight, crooked smile stretched her lips. Elsa remembered what she had promised Anna in the courtyard, (_We are never closing them again_) and decided to take a chance.

“You mean like…” She held out her hand, let her fingers unfurl and watched his face keenly as an icy tendril grew from the palm of her hand, sprouting snowflakes that hung heavy, like blossoms, from the stem before the magic dissipated, small crystals melting in mid-air before they could reach the floor.

A charmed smile spread across Kristoff’s face, reaching from his lips right up to his eyes, and Elsa couldn’t help herself – she laughed. He looked so happy, the pure, delighted, boyish kind of happiness that was notoriously contagious, and found herself grinning too, before a thought crossed her mind and she sobered, letting her hand drop limply to her lap.

“You helped Anna, didn’t you? In – in the mountains. You were there when the – when I – you were there, weren’t you?”

Kristoff nodded, before realizing that perhaps a non-verbal response wasn’t the most well-mannered kind. “I mean – yes, your Majesty, I was.”

She waved him off, fighting the urge to pull her own hand back, to hide it where hopefully it would no longer allow her to hurt anybody.

“Elsa will do,” she asserted, despite his protests. He nodded shortly in acceptance. “I want to thank you, Kristoff,” she continued, her voice trembling only slightly, “For what you did. It was very noble of you.’

“You’re welcome, your Ma – Elsa,” he corrected. “I would do anything for Anna.”

There was a brief pause. Then: “You mean that?”

“With every fibre of my being, I do,” he confirmed. “Anna is… well, she’s Anna,” he finished lamely.

Elsa laughed lightly. “Yes, she is.” There was a second silence, slightly longer than the first, in which Kristoff began twiddling his thumbs together again, and found his gaze wandering back towards the cookies, and then Anna. How long exactly was this meeting supposed to last?

Kristoff was startled out of his thoughts when Elsa spoke again. “I want to give you something,” she told him. He opened his mouth, ready to protest – _No, your Ma_– _Elsa, you’ve done enough! _– but she cut him off, mouth quirked in a lopsided smile. “Please.”

She raised her hands, steepling her fingers before drawing them apart, a long, thin chain of woven, sparkling ice forming between the tips of her index fingers. The centre of the chain bowed under the weight of a dazzling, iridescent six-pointed snowflake charm that swirled with a million shades of cool, frosty blue.

With a flourish she conjured a clasp at one end and a hook at the other, draping the resulting necklace over her fingertip and offering it to Kristoff, prompting that he open his hands.

“You Ma– Elsa, it’s… It’s beautiful,” he gasped, eyes wide in admiration. She chuckled, dropping the necklace into his cupped, open palms and watching as he examined it in wonder, taking in each tiny, exquisite detail with more hushed gasps.

“Think nothing of it,” she insisted with a smile. There was a quiet moment as Kristoff continued to gaze in wonder at the gift, completely at a loss for words, and Elsa was so warmed by the display that she decided to offer another gift – the largest, most heartfelt one she had to give.

“Actually – consider it my blessing.” When Kristoff frowned, she clarified, practically beaming: “Of your marriage.”

Her trust.


End file.
